Explore a heritage village of Tamilnadu- Chettinad

Travelling in the villages of South India is an awesome feeling which comes with its own challenges when you are unaware of anything, place, people, and even when you don't understand the language itself or what they are trying to communicate 🤔, and top of that where you don't get good internet connectivity for navigation🌍, and no proper transportation facility🚕 and sometimes you come across some unforeseen situations/challenges also where things are not smooth at first but you adopt the changes👍and learn to deal with this 😎.

Omg, and all this boosts the confidence to another level😎, Also the plus point of such trips are you meet such good-hearted people, experience good food, nature and so much more.

And recently I visited a few such villages of the Chettinad region of Tamilnadu in South India which made me really amazed by its rich cultural heritage, Chettinad food 😋, antiques, and true rural life.

Take a quick look of the places and my experience 😊 of the Chettinad region by clicking below Instagram links👇

👉Instagram reel-Athangudi Palace

👉Instagram reel- Handmade Athangudi Tile

👉Instagram reel- Saree Weaving Centre

👉Instagram reel-Food blog

More about Chettinad:

Chettinad is famous for its traditional cuisine, grand mansion and Rich culture. Chettinad region comprises some 70+ villages and 2 towns in Tamilnadu.

So this time I visited 4-5 villages and towns to explore and experience the beauty, culture, and history of the Chettinad region.

I had explored Kanadukathan, Athangudi, Pilliyarpatti, Karaikkudi, Thirumayam.

Athangudi Palace

And I was really amazed to see their big mansion. These villages are small but most of the Chettiyar houses here are too big, some of the houses are locked permanently and house owners shifted to a different city or abroad and some houses are open for visitors. and Some have been converted into Heritage hotels and restaurants.

Some of these houses are having around 80+ rooms and nobody lives in the houses 😑

It is shocking and internally I was feeling bad seeing this, rooms are locked, houses are locked and they spent a lot to build such a huge mansion which is designed so well and now no one is living. Even I have seen in 1 house, only 1 old guy from owner family was living, occupying just a 1 room whereas all rooms were locked.

Roof of the House

But the interesting thing to know is each and every corner of these houses are constructed with beautiful intricate carvings and raw materials were sourced from around the world, Imported teak wood from Burma, Mirrors from Belgium, Marble from Italy, Handmade Floor tiles from Portugal and Spain, Lamp shades from Egypt, and Stained glass from France.

Now, these houses in Chettinad show us a glance of its prosper period.

Many Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu movies and series were also filmed here.

Those houses are really very beautiful. Architecture, the layout of the village, streets and water management system, everything is designed so well and in a planned way.

They have the most interesting water management system in the villages. Roof of these Chettinad houses is designed in such a way that it harvests water in the courtyard and then diverts it to various different ponds through a water drainage network.

About the food here:

You will get authentic Chettinad food here. They prepare the food from freshly ground spices. So when I placed an order at 1 restaurant called Wadhyar's house, I waited a good 40-50 min and then my delicious food came to the table. They were not keeping any half-cooked food or gravy to make the dish ready to serve guests instead they prepared everything instantly...I felt like I am at home 😊.

My experience:

I chose Kanadukathan as my first destination and also for a night stay. From Kanadukathan only I went and explored Athangudi, Piliyarpati, Karaikudi, and Thirumayam, as all are nearby villages.

I reached Kannadukathan by Bus. Once I got down from the bus and started walking towards the village road, After walking some 300-400 meters, Initially, it was like a junction point where village shops were there, Auto stand was there, and few people sitting outside of their house and shops, and they were looking at me 😊. After crossing this area, I saw the Village temple and from this point onwards, the streets were empty, only a few people I could see. And further when I started walking to navigate the place which I booked for the stay. Literally, I did not see anybody on the streets
For a few minutes, I really doubted if anybody living in this village or not. As streets were completely empty. But then I reached the Chettinad Mansion and did all the check-in formalities for my stay at "Chettinad Packer". Then I realized, maybe fewer people are there in the village.

And to my surprise, I came to know that I was the only single guest in the "Chettinad Packer" building 😵 and even no human being in another neighboring building I had seen by that time, for a few minutes I was a little shocked also. but I thought to deal with this later.

And then further whole day I roamed around, visited some heritage houses, enquired about these heritage houses from the caretakers and visited the village temple, talked to locals (despite being a non-Tamil speaker 🤭 😎), tried different food at some restaurants as well as at a local shop, talked to the restaurant owner or whoever coming across😁😁, understood their area where is what and the whole road map also and colony setup. And I found people in villages are so kind-hearted and helpful.

So after all this, in the evening I started feeling I am also local and part of them. So with this feeling, I reached happily back to the place (my hostel) where I was going to stay at night.

In the whole building, only me and the security guard were going to stay at night 🤣. But after seeing and talking to the building security guard and thinking about the whole good and positive experience of daytime. I felt relaxed and also kind of good vibes, so I happily went to my room finally. But as usual, no neighbor or any other sound was there in the evening and at night.

At 1 Heritage house, there was an old lady who was a caretaker and was explaining to me about the houses in mixed language (broken English and Tamil) for my understanding 😀. After giving me a tour of the house, she took my phone to take my picture, and then we both took together a few pics, here is the click😍.

I found this village Kanadukathan so peaceful whether it is morning, noon, or evening, There is no noise of vehicles or other things, and barely we can hear human voices also in the streets. Most of the time, the only sound of birds chirping, winds, and the sound of tree leaves (coconut and other tree leaves) can be heard. I just can not describe how lovely & comforting it felt when during the sunset, I heard those nonstop chirping sounds of countless birds 🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

And I quickly recorded the below video just for the chirping sound 🤪, Though the video is not clear as it was almost dark in the evening, still you can hear the lovely sound 😊

This area will give you the feeling of really going back in time.

In some streets where houses 🏠are there, but you won't be able to see any human beings, feels like a deserted place.

As it is a remote area, so better to come in your own vehicle. In my case, being solo, I didn't come with my vehicle and used public transport to reach this village. So my hostel manager gave me scooty at no cost for roaming around, lucky me 🤪 and thanks to him 🙏

Day 1: I explored places at Kanadukathan and explored Athangudi by hiring an auto, as the first day I could not get scooty.

Day 2: I explored Piliyarpatti, Karaikudi and Thirumayam on scooty.

But the second day, 1 incident happened🙈 when I was going to another village "Pilliyarpatti", after driving for some 18 km, noticed scooty key was not there in the scooty, It might have fallen down somewhere while I was riding the scooty.

And then I had to ride for some more 10 km to go to the nearby town "Karaikudi" for arranging a duplicate key🤣. I got the address of the duplicate key maker from the locals there. Look like this was the only famous duplicate key maker there, as every local person was referring to me the same 😁

And on top of that, here most of the people speak only Tamil. Rarely anybody was speaking in English or Hindi. So people who don't understand a little bit of Tamil even will struggle harder for communication.

In my case, I can manage with my little bit of Tamil speaking and understanding abilities😂😎.

Places to see:

1. Visit heritage houses in Kanadukathan

2. Indulge in Chettinad delicacies

3. Chettinad mansion in Kanadukathan

4. Kanadukathan palace (entry not allowed, only from outside you can see or only through recommendation you will get a chance to visit inside also)

5. Chettinad cloth / Saree weaving center

6. Visit Athangudi palace (known as Athangudi Big house)

7. Visit the Athangudi man-made tiles factory

8. Pilayarpatti temple

9. Thirumayam fort and temple 16th century in Pilayarpatti

10. Visit the antique market in Karaikkudi

11. Thousand windows house (just from outside, entry not allowed), Karaikkudi

I explored the above places in 2 days. But if you have more time, you can make some extra day plans and explore a few more villages like Pallathur, Kadiyapatti, Kottaiyur, and a few others.

Stay options:

There are a few budget options as well as luxurious stay options also there in Kanadukathan.

Chettinad Packer (Backpacker Hostel)
Chettinad Mansion
Chettinad Court

I stayed in a "Chettinad packer" in the heritage village "Kanadukathan", which I found through google map 😎, it was listed there. and I quickly done an advance booking by making a call to property manager. This property is managed by the same manager/people who are at Chettinad Mansion.

And plus point of staying in this backpackers hostel is entry into the famous Palatial Chettinad Mansion is free of cost.

I had booked "3 bed room private ensuite" for me in this hostel. As there was no single bed or double bed private room 😁.

How to reach Kanadukathan:

Kanadukathan is 95 km from Madurai and 85 km from Tiruchirapalli.

The nearest airport is also Madurai and Tiruchirapalli.

The nearest Railway station is Chettinad and Karaikkudi.